«Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors» at Le Commun
Group Show, June 17 until July 11, 2021
Artists
Andrea Cindy Raemy, Cee Füllemann, Céline Manz, Deirdre O’Leary, Denis Savary, Denise Emery, Gina Folly, Gregory Bourrilly, Inner Light, James Bantone, Julie Monot, Katharina Hohmann, Léa Katharina Meier, Lisa Biedlingmaier, Maëlle Gross, Mai-Thu Perret, Manon Wertenbroek, Marco Simao, Mario Botta, Marjorie Kapelusz, Mina Squalli-Houssaïni, Nicola Genovese, Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz, Pierrette Bloch, Roman Gysin, Roman Signer, Sabrina Röthlisberger, Sandrine Pelletier, Sarah Burger, Sophie Jung, Sylvie Fleury, Thomas Liu Le Lann, Tobias Spichtig, Ugo Rondinone, Vidya Gastaldon
Institution
Location
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Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Thomas Liu Le Lann, Maëlle Gross, Sabrina Röthlisberger, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition Description:
If the integration of textile in 20th century’s art history constituted a major component in the reversal of the so-called “dominant categories” – whether it be the upheaval of artistic and aesthetic hierarchies, feminist emancipation or Western decentring – what is the situation today? Stemming from the knot as the symbolic figure of connectivity and constraint, but also the elementary pattern of fabric, the group exhibition Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors looks at the use of this ductile material in the Swiss artistic scene in recent decades. Questioning the appeal of textile in contemporary practices and its subversive power, the exhibition reports the intimate relationships that the material holds with the body and its spaces of representation.Themes:
Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors examines the ambivalent relationship between textiles and art through the prism of intertwined and complementary axes. Associated with the decorative and furniture setting, textile embeds itself in the domestic and in everyday use. The private interior invites itself in the exhibition, thematising the home as a space of comfort, shelter or confinement. Composed of object-works (beds, carpets, tables, decorations, windows), the collective and disparate “furnishing” of the space disturbs the principle of intimacy inherent to the domestic sphere and problematises questions of shared environments and identities.Artistic Exploration:
Occupying the walls, floor and ceiling, the works interact with the architecture, drifting away from their functionality as objects. They also allude to a set of historical references tied to the breakdown of notions such as the decorative, craft and design. When the home becomes the stage, garments become the costumes, objects the props, decors the set. Curtains open, and the space for public representation takes place, bringing with it fiction and storytelling. By embodying and diverting stage codes, the works explore the staging of the self and its relationship to theatricality and performativity. A tension rises from the awaiting of an activation or traces of one. Open sets, laid bare, without backstage, beginning nor end, textile appears as a revealing element, triggering mobility and metamorphosis.Artistic Expression:
The exhibition is also built around a multiplicity of tri and bidimensional bodies or "personae" – a Latin term used to define ancient theatre’s masks, often associated with archetypes and their role in society. Bodies and visitors hence meet in a collective narrative, mingling between presence and absence, mythical and familiar figures, portraits and self-portraits. A crowd of anthropomorphic, mutant, abstract, flawed and glitched beings unfolds and summons up a frontal relationship to visitors. Fabric composes and conceals these bodies; it assembles and separates them. By contrast and affinity, the works form ties and creates a temporary joint community – an interlace that nourishes a formal, tactile, and narrative dialogue between abstraction and figuration, ready-made and know-how, stages, bodies, and decors. The artists meet in a nodal setting linking intimacy and extimacy, constraint and liberation, emancipation and domestication. From suture stitch to sewing stitch, carnal and woven materials respond to each other, navigating through the private, scenic, and social spheres.
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Thomas Liu Le Lann (sculpture), Maëlle Gross (wallpaper)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Tobias Spichtig (3 pieces)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Sylvie Fleury, Vidya Gastaldon (upward), Andrea Cindy Raemy, Manon Wertenbroek, Nicola Genovese, Mai-Thu Perret (forward), (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Manon Wertenbroek, Cee Füllemann, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Nicola Genovese, Manon Wertenbroek, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Marco Simao, Inner Light, Mina Squalli-Houssaïni, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Sophie Jung (installation)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on James Bantone (sculpture)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Rondinone, Pierrette Bloch, Mai-Thu Perret, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Gregory Bourrilly (border), Sarah Burger, Sylvie Fleury, Roman Gysin (border), (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Julie Monot, Sandrine Pelletier), (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz, Ugo Rondinone, Julie Mono, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Cee Füllemann, Ugo Rondinone, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Gina Folly, Katharina Hohmann (table), Roman Gysin, Sophie Jung, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Deirdre O’Leary, Mario Botta, Denis Savary, (l.t.r.)» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
Exhibition View Group Show «Stitches: Scènes, corps, décors; view on Céline Manz» at Le Commun, Geneva, 2021 / Photo: Nicolas Delaroche Studio / Courtesy: the artists and Le Commun
